When I was four, my parents decided to immigrate to the US after growing weary of the challenges of my native Colombia. Determined to give me the world, my parents stowed away their own dreams in hopes that mine would bloom from the seeds of their sacrifice. We settled down in a sleepy town in suburban Georgia. We grew accustomed to a slower pace of life surrounded by endless forests and pastures. My neighborhood consisted of mostly immigrant families: Mexican, Romanian, Chinese, Guatemalan, Venezuelen, Nigerian. I grew up with many childhood friends: Bryan, Walter, Giovanni, Ademola, Carlos and Devin. As the group's single tomboy, I was picked on for being a girl and for also being smarter than all of the boys. We bonded over the things that made us different. Summer days consisted of endless games of kickball and soccer with ice cream breaks in between. We ventured to background creeks and somehow, I was always the one to fall in. As evenings wound down, we would eat dinner together at the Ramirez's house. We would jump on trampolines and swat the mosquitos away. Lazy summers in a lazy town.
When I was four, my parents decided to immigrate to the US after growing weary of the challenges of my native Colombia. Determined to give me the world, my parents stowed away their own dreams in hopes that mine would bloom from the seeds of their sacrifice. We settled down in a sleepy town in suburban Georgia. We grew accustomed to a slower pace of life surrounded by endless forests and pastures. My neighborhood consisted of mostly immigrant families: Mexican, Romanian, Chinese, Guatemalan, Venezuelen, Nigerian. I grew up with many childhood friends: Bryan, Walter, Giovanni, Ademola, Carlos and Devin. As the group's single tomboy, I was picked on for being a girl and for also being smarter than all of the boys. We bonded over the things that made us different. Summer days consisted of endless games of kickball and soccer with ice cream breaks in between. We ventured to background creeks and somehow, I was always the one to fall in. As evenings wound down, we would eat dinner together at the Ramirez's house. We would jump on trampolines and swat the mosquitos away. Lazy summers in a lazy town.